Words and Pictures / November 8, 2015 by Sasha Ward

Details from the patchwork windows in the North Aisle

These photos are all from the ancient parish church of Saint Michael and All Angels in Ashton-under-Lyne, where the restored fifteenth century glass has been installed at eye level in the North and South Aisle windows. There are beautifully made patchwork style windows in the North Aisle, with some mysterious figures, a useful inscription and the five pointed star from the coat of arms of the Assheton family.

The set of four windows in the South Aisle depicts the life of Saint Helen, and in windows 3 & 4, members of the Assheton family who donated them.

Window 3 South Aisle: Saint Helen above, Asshetons below.

I'm not usually that bothered about the iconography, but these portraits grabbed my attention initially because of the huge black family stars on their stomachs. Then the inscriptions are easy to read, I could even make out the names of Thomas Assheton and his wives Agnes, Elizabeth and Anne surrounded by gorgeous painted patterns.

Two of the lower panels in window 2 that depict the life of Saint Helen, translations below

Hic inveniebant tres cruces an aliis et veram crucem non discernebant Here they found three crosses and could not tell which was the true cross

Hic crucem veram petentes fodiunt Here they dig in search of the true cross

I found these translations in a great guide book to the Saint Helen windows by members of The Friends of Ashton Parish Church with not only word by word translations of each inscription but also grammatical notes - so useful for latin revision.

Window Sills / October 30, 2015 by Sasha Ward

The back of the tidy studio, no coffee cups or towels in sight                            Glass off cuts on window sill — The back of the tidy studio, no coffee cups or towels in sight Glass off cuts on window sill

I've spent a lot of time recently tidying up my studio. One of my aims was to make the space into a setting for photographs of work in progress with nothing awful - like plastic bags on the lawn or towels on the kiln - in the background. Instead of untidy piles, my things are sorted into neat rows under the tables and on my shelves and window sills.

Above: The front of the studio with evidence of some work going on.Below: Window sill with useful things and window sill with arrangement of beautiful things. — Above: The front of the studio with evidence of some work going on.
Below: Window sill with useful things and window sill with arrangement of beautiful things.

I thought I should draw my beautiful window sill arrangement, but really couldn't be bothered to spend the time on it. One, because I've done enough of that type of drawing in my life and two, because some excellent examples of the genre have recently caught my eye. I love Rebecca Crompton's mainly useful things (above) laid out so carefully in the moonlight.

When I found my 1983 sketchbooks that contain the drawings that the row of plants in my tidy studio reminded me of, I realised that some of the plants and indeed the pots are probably the same ones, inherited from my mother. I know I'm resistant to change, but this is getting ridiculous. And no need for me to draw them again.

Top: Two pages of pot plants from my 1983 sketchbookBottom: "Bathroom Window" watercolour by Augusta Ward, 2015 — Top: Two pages of pot plants from my 1983 sketchbook
Bottom: "Bathroom Window" watercolour by Augusta Ward, 2015

In a series of rich observational drawings, Augusta Ward records the window sills and corners of a room lovingly filled with possessions. The plants and things (above and below), displayed in a similar fashion to mine, are drawn in a fresh and breezy style.

Many Sided Shapes / October 14, 2015 by Sasha Ward

Exterior and interior of the first floor, Ariana Museum, Geneva.

Ariana Museum, Geneva, was built by Gustave Revilliod in the late nineteenth century to house his art collection and named after his mother. Now it is a museum of ceramics and glass with an exhibition "Harmony in Glass" by the British artist Anna Dickinson with whom I studied at The Royal College of Art in the 1980s. The building's neo-classical/baroque curves, quite different on the inside and the outside, and the glimpses of some complicated high level stained glass through the first floor windows started me thinking about shapes even before seeing Anna's fantastic retrospective.

Left: A quarter of Anna Dickinson's exhibition "Harmony in Glass" on until 1st November.   Right: Cast Yellow Vessel with a Hendecagon Steel Liner 2010 — Left: A quarter of Anna Dickinson's exhibition "Harmony in Glass" on until 1st November. Right: Cast Yellow Vessel with a Hendecagon Steel Liner 2010

I am keen on counting, and have had discussions with Anna before about how many sides we like our shapes to have. In Anna's work, there is often a shape that makes a tessellating pattern over the surface of the glass vessel which may have a circular metal liner. In the yellow piece shown above, the reverse is true as the eleven sided shape is on the inside. The odd numbered shapes are the ones that interested me, sometimes they are more difficult to photograph, looking odd in both senses of the word.

So here is the number count in this exhibition:

3 sides - 1 : 7 sides - 1 : 8 sides : 2 : 9 sides - 1 : 10 sides - 3 : 11 sides - 2 : 15 sides -1. All the others are either circular or have facets that are too numerous to count in the round, reminding me how much more complicated the geometry is for an artist who works with three dimensions.

Clear Frit Vessel (9 sides) 2014                  Green Triangles (10 sides) 2014                                Green … — Clear Frit Vessel (9 sides) 2014 Green Triangles (10 sides) 2014 Green Twist (3 sides) 2011

The museum also has a great display of medieval stained glass, including the rose window, below left, number count as follows: outer window - 8 : main circle - 12 : centre - 4.

I wanted to contrast that versatile dodecagon with my own round glass commission for Dewsbury Health Centre, below right. As this is a hanging piece, there were no geometrical constraints based on glazing bars. The inner shape has 6 sides, the outer shape is flying out of the circle and has a piece taken out of it but it would have 7 sides.

Wall of medieval glass in Ariana Museum                             Hanging panel, Dewsbury Health Centre, 2006 — Wall of medieval glass in Ariana Museum Hanging panel, Dewsbury Health Centre, 2006

The Return of Some Favourite Themes / October 3, 2015 by Sasha Ward

The Great Hall, Manchester Town Hall - between weddings - with 4 of 12 murals painted by Ford Madox Brown between 1879 & 1893. Click on all images to enlarge. — The Great Hall, Manchester Town Hall - between weddings - with 4 of 12 murals painted by Ford Madox Brown between 1879 & 1893. Click on all images to enlarge.

Since I discovered that I have in my bedroom a chair "possibly designed by FMB", see previous blog entry, I have been very keen on Ford Madox Brown. On my recent trip to Manchester I managed - between weddings - to get in to the Great Hall of Manchester Town Hall to see the murals that he painted there towards the end of his life. However, as I approached the hall via one of the magnificent staircases, I was so absorbed by others aspects of the building's interior decoration that I couldn't concentrate on the paintings.

Great Hall Foyer, photo by Michael D. Beckwith.  Block of 6 stained glass panels. — Great Hall Foyer, photo by Michael D. Beckwith. Block of 6 stained glass panels.

The first thing was the roof, simply glazed to my great delight with "brown and yellow windows", see another previous blog entry, of my favourite type, with no lead just brown paint and silver stain. The inscription on the glass reads "THE MAYORS MANCHESTER FROM THE YEAR OF INCORPORATION TO THE OPENING OF THE BUILDING " with names and dates from 1838 to 2003, well after the opening of the building. The lettering changes over the years but the cotton plant does not.

Then there are the windows. They admit a beautiful quality of light to the interior of the building, including the Great Hall itself, where there is a complete set of delicately coloured stained glass windows. Here I found a favourite motif, see yet another previous blog entry, the wonderfully decorative horse chestnut leaf.

Details from the 3 window types in The Great Hall (in my order of preference).

Wandering around the corridors and into the public rooms on the first floor I came across mosaic floors, painted walls, textiles, carvings and patterned ceilings. The work was carried out by at least three different firms but all, including the lettering, said to have been designed by the architect of The Town Hall, Alfred Waterhouse.

In the south vestibule, horse chestnut motif around the door frame and original patterned ceiling.

Ron Jones House (part two) / September 22, 2015 by Sasha Ward

Since exhibiting my window and wallpaper designs together earlier in the year, I have wanted to work on a project where I could decorate all the surfaces of a room. The IT room/lounge at Ron Jones House in Bristol turned out to be that project.

Linoleum Striato - Water Colour                                                               … — Linoleum Striato - Water Colour Left hand side of the room

This slightly daring linoleum, "Water Colour" , found its perfect home as the centre piece for the new room. The colour is light but also rich, invigorating and in tune with our colour range. I used its streaks as the background for my wallpaper designs, and didn't mind that once it arrived in the middle of my room layout (below) the original floor design - suitably altered - was banished to the left hand half of the ceiling.

The IT room/lounge was two rooms that have become one, so part of my task was to link the two halves while giving each its own feel. The left hand side is the IT side, and although the new wall colour is neutral the glow from the ceiling blues the colour in that half. In the right hand side, the wallpaper wraps around the seating area with the richest gold colour continuing along the wall behind the new sofa and across to the open door.

The development of the design from my original repeating three colour motif to the version used on the windows and walls here was mostly achieved by stripping parts of the pattern away and allowing other parts to float around. I also wanted to make my original inspiration (from the plant in the sunlight) more visible, so I added fine lines as radiating suns, stars on the ceiling and vertical plants on the walls and window vinyls.

Details from the right hand side - window and wall designs. — Details from the right hand side - window and wall designs.